jo kelly shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Hi jo, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day to share your story, experiences and insights with our readers. Let’s jump right in with an interesting one: What do you think is misunderstood about your business?
I think people are used to being sold solutions. External solutions that is. Like a business has the solution and you need to learn that solution from them so you can deal with your life. In the work we (un)do, we couldn’t be further away from that.
I am not a teacher, I am not an authority, I am not even a coach, I cannot spoon feed anything to anyone.
I am in the business of reminding adults how to be kids again. That means I am just a deconditionning companion. Because the pure, childlike authentic self is always deep inside of you already.
There is nothing to learn. Just undoing the fake learned coping mechanisms and waking up the true, limiless human instinct.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I started with actors but now I accompany all creators and leaders to undo their conditioning so they can be reignited in their instinctive, truthul and free self.
Our company is called To Be Or Not To Act, and by that we mean its all about BEING your true, unique self. No point moving, acting or creating in any direction if your being hasen’t first returned to its true soulful and original self.
When people live life from doing without making sure they are anchered in their truth and freedom first, they end up efforting, leaking energy and burning out.
We came here to have our own human experience and because of the conditionned culture and education we are brought up into, we are trained to repress all our true phisical impulses, thoughts, emotions, behavior, curiosisty, desires in order to conform, obey and stay safe.
Do that for decades, and you will of course be unable to be, create, serve, lead authentically. That’s where we come in, with a space -held inside the gift economy- where people put themselves through Journeys to move from resistance to Freedom.
I became a strong stand for humans returning to their miraculous humanity at around 20 when I started studying systemics psychology in University. I meandered in consulting for the corporate world and then into art and entertainment and I found home in connecting with humans ready to be rehumanized.
It’s very intoxicating to see humans come back to their own true and incredible technology.
I also direct and I am currently working on a very personal documentary called “Why isn’t everyone dancing?!” In 2024 I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer and I decided to dance publically through my treatments and I enjoyed it SO much that it led me to ask myself the question of why isn’t everyone dancing and I got to the conclusion that – again- our education system wires that out of us as schools train us for competition, obediance, control etc, but not for full sel expression.
I am still filming this doc right now actually and it’s pretty controversial;-)
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
A pure divine being. Like all children;-)
All children are born perfectly human. And then we are told who we have to become sadly…
I have always been full of joy, love and idealism.
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
My daughter was born with a genetic condition that makes her transfusion dependant. So since she was born we have had A LOT of hospital treatments, intensive care, surgeries, etc and a lot of fear of losing her…
In the throws of her health journey i have felt a lot of suffering and at one point, the suffering was so deep, i thought it wasnt worth living that way.
I decided to work on it by doing a Bufo ceremony. And that was my life’s biggest revelation. The 5MEO-DMT molecule showed me that my daughter’s health condition was the most beautiful thing in my life and all i had for it was gratitude.
Psychadelics are really hard to explain but basically, it was making me understand very clearly that what my daughter had brought to my life was an opportunity to expand in life experience, power, awareness, love amd bliss.
And that had i not had her i would never have been able to stretch that much and taste so much life. I have never been so grateful in my life. That sufering i was holding was my biggest jewel.
Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? What important truth do very few people agree with you on?
Children do not need school. They can learn by themselves.
My kids went to a humanistic school in LA where no teaching, authority, homework, classroom is allowed unless the children specifically demand to be taught.
It’s all child based curriculum and they are the smartest and most self aware kids i have ever met. And yes they did teach themselves how to read and write and count.
But most importantly they were not conditionned by a school system that was build to program factory workers and soldiers. My kids have not been programmed, they are their own unique, authentic selves;-)
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: Are you tap dancing to work? Have you been that level of excited at any point in your career? If so, please tell us about those days.
Yes, i have danced through cancer treatments and made a documentary out of it. It’s called “Why isnt everyone dancing?!”
It’s like cancer was an invitation to explore and express my work around freedom and conditioning through another path: illness, dance and film.
It felt extraordinary to feel the ecstasy of dancing everywhere in public in the least expected moment of my life. I felt so inspired and curious and really felt a lot of ecstasy and it was amazing to be carried by that during the treatments.
The documentary is still in production and in the deeper, more intelectual part of the narrative, but it’s very fulfiling.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.tobeornottoact.com
- Instagram: @tobeornottoact_jokelly
- Linkedin: @tobeornottoact
- Twitter: @tobeornottoact
- Facebook: @JOKELLY
- Youtube: @jokelly
Image Credits
Your system doesnt allow uploading more than one pic so i couldnt upload 4-8;-)
